Clownmommy

I woke up late at 5:00 am this morning.  I’d gone to a show last night, Guerra at the New York  Clown Theater Festival.  I hadn’t laid out everything I needed in an OCD way because the run was starting at City Hall which is so much closer to where I live than when the runs start way up in the 70’s or 80’s or 90’s in Manhattan.  For those runs I have to get up at 4:00 am to be at the train station by 5:00 am to make a 6:00 am run start.  So I was too casual.  Then I was running late.  It was too late to take the subway.  Then it was too late walk there.  Then when I decided I would catch up with them as they came over the bridge to Brooklyn Heights, but it was early…  I realized I didn’t know the route.  So I opened the Galloway website but I couldn’t remember the password and it took a while to search through old e-mails to find it andy then when I went to print the directions there was something wrong with the printer.  So I just left and ran to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.  But, after I got there and didn’t see them i realized that i didn’t know where they were going to run after Court Street.  Eventually I did find them and we ran to Union and over the Gawanus Canal to Prospect Park, around Prospect Park, around Greenwood Cemetery, around Prospect Park again and back to Brooklyn  Heights. Sometimes I ran with the pace groups and sometimes I was on my own, that happened to a lot of us this morning.  But, we regrouped every time we stopped at our lovely refreshment table stocked and manned by lovely Galloway members who weren’t running this morning.

When we were running back to Brooklyn Heights, tired after over 20 miles, we were waiting for a light and a little girl of about 3 looked at us and admired the skirt of one and the blue shoes of another.  She gave several of us hugs.  She was so cute and as we jogged away one of the women said,

“That was wonderful. A hug from a little girl was just what I needed at this point in the run. How did she know”

Talk turns to marathon details.  We have to go on the website and choose wether or not we are going to have a bag of stuff transported to the finish line.  The consensus among the locals was don’t. Wear sweats and a jacket and blanket on the morning of that you don’t want to keep.  Take them off and leave them on the ground.  They are collected and donated to charity.  Then at the end, be satisfied with the shiny silver space blanket or meet loved ones after the race who can bring you warm clothes.  Apparently waiting to get the stuff can take an hour after crossing the finish line when all a person wants to do is get home or at least get away from Central Park.

Today we ran either 23 or 26 miles.  One woman went home early, frustrated by exercise induced asthma.  One man had a problem with his leg, rotator, radiator, something like that.  Previews of race day problems.

When we were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at the end of our run, a tourist looking at our funny water bottle belts asked if we were doing a long run like 5 miles.  I said 20.  The woman next to me said 25.  Whatever it is that we are doing, and not matter how many thousands do it, no matter how slowly I run, it’s still beyond the experience of most people.

I’m glad I’m running to raise money for the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.